The Cold War was of overriding importance during the period after World War II for all
of the following reasons except
(a) It was an automatic “pump primer” which helped keep spending levels high in the
overall economy.
(b) It helped fuel growth of key sectors of the economy, such as aircraft manufacturing
and computers.
(c) It fostered economic growth and urbanization in many parts of the nation where
military bases and defense factories were built.
(d) It put people to work who would otherwise have been unemployed because without
high levels of defense spending, the economy almost certainly would have lapsed back
into a depression like the one of the 1930s.
The direction of colonial trade produced great trade deficits with England, especially in
the New England Colonies. Consequently, growth and development were stifled in
colonial America.
The legislative immigration restrictions following World War I (1914″18) contributed to
which of the following in the 1920s?
(a) An acceleration in the growth in the U.S. population
(b) A decline in the rate of household formation in the U.S.
(c) Rapid rise in U.S. prices
(d) High unemployment in the U.S.
Exports from and imports to the U.S. were important to growth in the U.S. between
1790 and 1860 because
(a) exports to other countries expanded the market base for U.S. manufacturing goods.
(b) they supported the U.S. economy during a time in which it used more agricultural
goods and crude materials than it produced.
(c) they helped the U.S. and its trading partners gain wealth through international trade
of those goods and services in which each produced at a comparative advantage.
(d) they contributed to all of the above.
Stanley Engerman’s (1971) work on the economic impact of the Civil War (1861″1865)
refuted a view sometimes called the Beard-Hacker thesis. This thesis holds that
(a) the Civil War (1861″1865) held back the ongoing processes of industrialization.
(b) the Civil War (1861″1865) accelerated the ongoing processes of industrialization.
(c) the Civil War (1861″1865)’s demands for manufactured goods increased American
long-term dependency on foreign trade.
(d) the Civil War (1861″1865) was more disruptive of the “westward movement” than it
was of ongoing processes of industrialization.
Which group opposed having lots of money in the economy after the Civil War and
before World War I?
(a) Those individuals with debt (businesses)
(b) Those buying and selling commodities (farmers)
(c) Those providing credit through deposits and other venues (wealthy and savers)
(d) Those benefitting from rising wages and prices
The American Revolution and Constitution resulted in
(a) a dramatic change in laws and the ownership of property.
(b) greatly expanded rights for wage workers and indentured servants.
(c) the elimination of a land-owning aristocracy.
(d) very little major change with respect to laws and ownership of property, though
there was a strengthening of property rights.
The United States’ first income tax was imposed during
(a) the American Revolutionary War (1763″1789).
(b) the Civil War (1861″1865).
(c) the 1930’s Great Depression.
(d) World War II (1939″1945).
If the relative market price of producing cotton is more than the opportunity cost of
producing it in the South,
(a) the market price of cotton will fall in the long run.
(b) producers will increase the supply of cotton in the long run.
(c) resources will flow away from the production of cotton, causing the supply of it to
decline with the passage of time.
(d) the situation will remain unchanged as long as supply and demand remain in
balance.
Munn v Illinois (1877) was particularly important with regard to government regulation
because it
(a) upheld the traditional right of businesses to act freely without interference by
government.
(b) established the right of government to regulate any business that was deemed
“clothed” in the public interest.
(c) established the right of government to regulate any and all businesses wherever such
regulation was deemed desirable to promote competition.
(d) established the right of government at any level to regulate any business activity if
such regulation was deemed desirable for any reason.
Squatters were considered pioneers or land entrepreneurs by many of the people in
(a) England and the New England colonies.
(b) the New England colonies and Middle Colonies.
(c) the Middle Colonies and Southern Colonies.
(d) all of the above.
After the American Revolution, the public domain expanded and the amount of
community property held by the federal government grew considerably. If it had stayed
community property, there would have been problems, according to Hughes and Cain
(2011). These problems include which of the following?
(a) Individuals using it would not have incentive to conserve it or use it wisely.
(b) The problem of “free riders” would have been troublesome and resulted in a
“free-for-all,” which could have ended in violence.
(c) Each person faced incentive to overuse the communal rights of others.
(d) All of the above.
Which of the following factors have contributed and continue to contribute to long-term
economic growth in the U.S.?
(a) Individual rights to vote and popular democracy
(b) Public and private education
(c) Increased labor productivity, capital accumulation and technological change
(d) All of the above
The careful historian, in studying an institution like slavery and in striving for
objectivity, will give special attention to all of the following except
(a) Those processes which recur over time and which continually motivated the
institution
(b) A theory which provides understanding of the cause-and-effect relationships
involved
(c) The background conditions of the period
(d) All of the above statements must be given special attention
Which of the following reduces U.S. potential for economic growth by reducing
household incentive to use private property most efficiently and effectively?
(a) Personal income taxes
(b) Farm subsidies and import tariffs
(c) Auto bailouts
(d) Regulation in the health care industry
The shortage of precious metals or coins provided colonists with incentives to find
alternatives. These alternatives included everything listed below except
(a) Teeth
(b) Country money
(c) Fiat money
(d) Bills of credit
The federal government’s abilities to tax during war- and peace-times are constrained
by
(a) the need to be re-elected by the voting population.
(b) the interests of the non-voting population.
(c) the U.S. Constitution.
(d) the protected rights of state and local governments to tax.
During the worst year of the Great Depression, according to the official statistics, about
what percentage of the labor force was unemployed?
(a) 10%
(b) 15%
(c) 25%
(d) 35%
Which of the following would empirically support the claim that slave owners were
optimistic about the future of the slave system in the 1850s?
(a) Rising slave prices
(b) An increasing demand for slaves
(c) A positive net return to slave purchases
(d) All of the above
Engerman’s (1971) studies of the Civil War (1861″1865)’s impact on industrialization
(a) support the previous work of Hacker and Beard.
(b) showed that the War sped up the ongoing processes of industrialization.
(c) showed that the War effort slowed down industrialization.
(d) restricted the real cost of the War to the South.
Which statement holds true for the period of slavery in U.S. history?
(a) Slavery was a moral institution.
(b) The system wasted natural resources.
(c) It provided slaveholders with incentives to avoid purchasing farm implements.
(d) It developed land and profitably produced agricultural goods for sale in world
markets.
What do the Monetarist and Keynesian economists claim was the main cause of the
Great Depression?
(a) A contraction in supply
(b) A downturn in demand
(c) The falling federal deficit
(d) All of the above
Albro Martin (1971) argues that the Interstate Commerce Commission (1887″1995)
was
(a) never a case of “capture.”
(b) “captured” by the railroads themselves.
(c) “captured” by the customers of the railroads.
(d) too ineffective to warrant “capture” by anyone.
Which of the following statements is NOT true during the colonial years, according to
Hughes and Cain (2011)?
(a) Labor organizations were considered, by law, criminal conspiracies against society.
(b) Colonial society provided for its aged and sick poor; others had to work.
(c) Efforts to control wages and prices by governmental authority were present.
(d) Compulsory labor applied only to slaves and indentured servants.
(e) Idle persons were frequently jailed for the crime of having no visible means of
support.
How does the federal government influence the flow of goods and services into the
country and, consequently, create extra profitability or rents in domestic production that
would not have been there under free market conditions?
(a) tariffs
(b) minimum wage laws
(c) control of the public domain
(d) federal income taxes
From an economics standpoint, the Articles of Confederation did not provide for
(a) levying taxes to support a central government.
(b) regulating interstate commerce.
(c) enforcing laws, because no federal judiciary was authorized.
(d) any of the provisions mentioned above.
What impact did colonial inflation have on the colonial economy?
(a) An overall increase in private consumption spending in colonial America
(b) A decrease in interest rates in colonial America
(c) A decrease in colonial exports and a rise in colonial imports
(d) An increase in the exchange rates between colonial money and specie
Sustained economic growth in the U.S. has been primarily a product of which of the
following factors?
(a) War and exploitation of natural resources
(b) Capital accumulation, increases in capital and labor productivity, and technological
advancements
(c) Restricted trade
(d) Government policies and market interventions
During World War II, price controls were necessitated as shortages emerged in
consumer markets. This required
(a) the federal government to ration goods through tickets.
(b) the federal distribution of rationing points.
(c) a forced reduction in private consumption.
(d) all of the above actions.
Which of the following was NOT used to finance the Civil War (1861″1865)?
(a) Taxation
(b) Borrowing
(c) Printing money
(d) Large voluntary contributions from individuals opposed to slavery
Which of the following groups was Jefferson most trying to help in setting up the Land
Ordinances?
(a) His friends, the land speculators
(b) The urban proletariat
(c) The small farmers
(d) Fellow slave owners
The U.S. used high-pressure steam engines, whereas the British favored low-pressure
engines. The reason for the American preference for high-pressure steam engines was
that
(a) low-pressure steam engines, though more efficient, were complicated to build and
operate and America lacked skilled labor compared to England.
(b) the high-pressure steam engines used extravagant amounts of wood fuel. The U.S.
abundance of wood compared to Europe made building high-pressure steam engines
cheaper in the U.S.
(c) Americans simply lagged behind technologically compared to England and
continued to use the outdated high-pressure steam engines.
(d) England had patents on the superior low-pressure steam engine and would not allow
other nations to use the technology.
Which of the following statements is supported by the research of economic historians?
(a) Canals and railroads were built with a mixture of private and public enterprise
and financing.
(b) Canals and railroads were built largely without U.S. government participation.
(c) Canals were built with public assistance, but railroads were built with almost
no government assistance.
(d) Railroads were built with public assistance, but canals were built by private
enterprise.
During the 20th century, the agricultural sector experienced an increase in
(a) the number of operating farms.
(b) the farm population.
(c) the farm output.
(d) all of the above.
With regard to education of freed slaves after the Civil War (1861″1865),
(a) there was a rapid rise of literacy.
(b) Southern public schools were ‘separate, but equal.”
(c) most had received no education under slavery and were illiterate.
(d) all of the above are true.